


Dehydration

by joidessin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Bonding, Half-Vampires, Kind of slow burn but not really, M/M, Mild Language, but i couldn't fall asleep and this happened so take it, here take this, mentions of blood and injury, this is probably a mistake, vampire!keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2018-12-04 12:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11555511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidessin/pseuds/joidessin
Summary: Keith didn't know what he was going to do.He hadn't exactly planned to leave Earth when he woke up that morning, but now that he had, he wasn't going back anytime soon either. Which was kind of a problem, for many reasons, but mostly because...Keith was a vampire.And he hadn't had a meal for a couple days already.And no one on the ship knew about this._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _In which Keith is a vampire, everyone is clueless, and Lance just wants to know if he can fly.





	1. Special Dietary Requirements

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been playing with this idea in my head for the past couple months and last night I got the idea for the first line, which of course translated into me writing three pages of this at 5am. I figured I might as well finish and post it. I'm sorry if it completely sucks (pun intended).

Keith didn't know what he was going to do.

He hadn't exactly planned to leave Earth when he woke up that morning, but now that he had, he wasn't going back anytime soon either. Which was kind of a problem, for many reasons, but mostly because...

Keith was a vampire.

And he hadn't had a meal for a couple days already.

And no one on the ship knew about this.

In hindsight, he probably should have told Shiro. He wasn't sure why he didn't in the first place. The guy was the closest thing he had to family and he'd known him for years. Awhile back he was actually going to tell him. Just rip of the band-aid and say 'I'm a vampire'.

But then Shiro got abducted by aliens.

And then they went to space.

It didn't really seem like the time or place—breaking through the atmosphere in a robotic blue lion—to tell someone that you were an almost-immortal being who feasts on blood. Especially since they hadn't been alone much since Shiro crash landed.

So now here Keith was, with no confidant, and about a week before the lack of blood starts to really damage his system.

What could go wrong?

 

-X-

 

A lot.

A lot could go wrong.

In fact everything could go wrong. And so, of course, it did.

 

He had planned to tell Shiro after everything calmed down. But when you're fighting a war in space against evil space cats, it doesn't ever calm down.

They had only been up there for four days and Keith could already feel the effects of his...malnutrition. Apparently it was visibly noticeable too.

That night at dinner (or their simulated night in space), Hunk pointed out that he looked much paler than usual. Keith had simply shrugged and gone back to digging through his food goo, trying to lessen suspicion.

"Guess it's the lack of sunlight." _Too bad they don't get the irony._

This seemed to satisfy Hunk, but of course, Lance wasn't going to leave it alone.

"Dude, you're practically translucent," which was an exaggeration, but with Lance, what can you expect? "Are you sure you're okay?"

That was surprising enough, Lance showing genuine concern for him, but then he leaned in closer to get a better look. Keith was sure he would be blushing if he had any blood running through his veins, but as it was, the close proximity only caused him to be hyper aware of the blood running through Lance's.

He gulped, the steady _bum bum, bum bum_ , of his teammate's heart permeating his eardrums and causing his fangs to slowly extend.

The chair scraped loudly against the floor with the force and speed with which Keith stood up. Everyone's eyes were on him, confused of course. But Keith couldn't explain it to them. Not then. He quickly exited the room, mumbling something about the training deck that none of them quite caught.

As soon as he was out of the dining hall and away from anyone he could hurt, he slowly slid to the floor, fangs extending to their full length.

This was getting harder and harder to hide from the team. Also, it was fucking up his health. That too.

With a soft thump, his head hit the wall, eyes opening slightly to stare at the ceiling. If he didn't get some blood soon, things were going to start going downhill fast. He lifted his hand up to his face and traced the lines of his now-elongated fingernails. He had never had a use for them, nor would he want to use them on anyone. But he had seen what other vampires had done to their victims, leaving them mangled and torn, bleeding to death. He remembered seeing his mom, writhing on the floor, skin torn and ragged from the attack of a pissed off vampire. Something about money and debts. Keith had been too busy being scared for his eight year old life to listen. But ever since that day, he vowed to never use his claws on any living thing. Ever.

He took a deep breath and tried to will the claws to retract. The longer vampires went without blood, the harder it was to maintain human form. It wasn't impossible at this stage, just took a shit ton of concentration.

He had just about gotten them back to normal length when his ears, now pointed slightly, flicked at a nearby voice.

"Holy...motherfucking...quiznack."

Glowing golden eyes met wide blues as his head snapped up to the noise. He heard a sharp inhale, and before he could scream or call for help or whatever he thought of doing, Keith shot up, using his superhuman speed to his advantage, and pinned Lance to the castle wall, hand firmly clamped over his mouth.

This, of course, just made the blue paladin's eyes grow wider—whether from Keith's speed or his proximity, Keith didn't know.

His eyes had now widened to match Lance's. He was in no way prepared to handle this. Not with his thirst for blood increasing every second. He could barely think with the way Lance's heartbeat had sped up with adrenaline, and his eyes flicked down to his teammate's neck, mouth opening in anticipation. He would have clamped down on a vein right then, but Lance's squeak knocked him out of it.

With the same speed he pinned Lance, he shot himself backwards, as far as he could from Lance. He shook his head, trying to get a hold of himself.

"Oh my god..." Lance's voice brought him back to the present, and golden eyes met cobalt once again. Keith's were wide with trepidation, uncertain, and maybe even a bit scared, which was almost funny to Lance because if anyone was going to be scared here, it should've been Lance.

"You have fangs," Lance whispered. The red paladin was frozen to the spot—not moving at all, confused and worried that if he did anything, Lance would freak out and scream or call someone or _something_.

He had been silent for a while now, but when Keith blinked, his mouth opened and it was like the floodgates had been breached.

"Holy shit, are you a vampire? What am I talking about, you totally are. Fangs, claws, _that speed_ . Oh and your eyes! They're fucking gold! And glowing! The fuck? And now I get why you're so pale and why you're such a good fighter—holy shit can you _fly_ ? That would be _awesome_!"

He looked like he had much more to say, but Keith had already surged forward and covered his mouth again. He still looked a little scared, but it was more hesitant now. And confused. A lot of confusion.

His mouth opened and closed like he couldn't figure out what he wanted to say. Finally, he seemed to land on something.

"You...you're not scared of me?" His voice was small and quiet, and Lance almost didn't hear it. Keith heard a muffled ' _can you move your hand so I can respond?_ ' before he hastily dropped his hand, mumbling a quick sorry while averting his eyes.

"No I'm not scared of you." At this, golden eyes flicked back up, wider this time, but more out of disbelief. "I mean, I was freaked out at first, but once I realized it was you..." He trailed off, not really knowing where he was going with that.

Lance was blushing a bit now, and if it wasn't for Keith's enhanced eyesight, he wouldn't have even noticed with how dim the lights were.

"But this is so cool!" Keith blinked at the change in tone, but didn't say anything. "So you're a vampire?"

It was phrased like a question, but at this point, Lance definitely already knew the answer. Still, Keith nodded.

"Half," he responded.

"Whoaaaaa," Lance drawled, stepping away a bit with his hand on his chin. "I didn't even know vampires _existed_ let alone that one of my friend's is one!"

_Friend?_

Keith frowned at the word but didn't interrupt. He didn't know Lance considered them friends at all, and he wanted to ask him about that, but his reaction to finding out about Keith was much more intriguing at the moment.

“You—I...I don't even—huh?"

At this, Lance focused his gaze back on the vampire, eyebrows raised in question.

"What?"

"So you're not scared at all?" Lance shook his head. "None of this," he said, gesturing to himself, "freaks you out?" He shook his head again. "Oh my god," Keith mumbled, burying his face in his hands.

"Uh, are you okay?" Lance questioned, sounding slightly concerned. Keith's head shot up so fast, Lance briefly thought he should have whiplash.

"Am I—no I'm not okay!" The blue paladin's eyes widened at his statement and at his increasing volume. "I'm sitting here freaking out about someone finding out and being scared or trying to kill me, and you just want to know if I can _fly_ ??" Lance's eyes flicked quickly sideways before landing back on glowing gold. Which, he might add, were glowing a bit brighter now. "What the fuck is up with that? _What the fuck is wrong with you_ ? You should be scared! Screaming! _Something!_ " Lance was sure someone was going to come looking for them at this point because Keith was now screaming. "Oh my god I was worried over nothing. I was worried over nothing because _apparently_ I have the weirdest friend ever."

Keith had quieted down considerably at this point, and Lance was about to interject when a voice traveled from around the corner.

"Keith? Lance? What's going on?"

Shiro.

Shit.

Golden eyes, which had now died down to a soft glow, widened impossibly large, and Lance realized that Shiro didn't know.

Without thinking, Lance dashed forward, grabbed Keith's hand, and dragged him into the closest room. Which happened to be a supply closet.

 _Great_ , Lance thought, _such a cliche. Hiding in a tiny closet with my crush_ . _Who's also vampire. So I guess it's less of a cliche now. Kind of uncharted territory._

He didn't get much of a chance to think more on that when he heard Shiro's voice directly outside the door.

“Huh, where’d they go? I was sure I heard Keith yelling.”

“Maybe he left to go blow off steam,” a new voice joined Shiro’s. Hunk’s, Lance immediately recognized. “You know how he is.”

“Mm…yeah you’re right.”

He listened to their receding footsteps, and Lance waited a few more seconds before releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Whew, that was close, huh Keith?” No response. “Keith?” he questioned, turning around to look at him. It was really dark in the closet, but Lance could see a faint glow behind shut eyelids and he could hear Keith breathing heavily. Hesitantly, he moved to take a step forward, arm outstretched. “Kei—“

“Stop!” Lance’s footsteps halted and his breath was caught in his throat with the intensity of Keith’s voice. “Don’t—don’t come any closer.” Bright eyes slowly opened and focused on Lance before shutting tightly again.

“Wh—what’s wrong?” he asked hesitantly.

“I—I can’t…” he broke off, soft groans of discomfort sounding from the back of his throat. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he finished, almost too quiet for Lance to hear. Almost.

“Hurt me? There’s no way you would…” he trailed off, remembering how Keith’s eyes had flicked down to his neck out in the hall. “Oh…do you—do you need blood?” Golden eyes snapped open at the word, landing on Lance’s face and glowing so bright they were almost white. Lance thought there was no way they could be any wider, but they grew twice the size at his next words.

“You can have some of mine if you want.”

Keith’s heavy breathing suddenly stopped as he went impossibly still.

“…You don’t have to do that.”

The blue paladin rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. “Keith, buddy, what are friends for?” There was a smirk on his lips, Keith noted, watching the way they curved confidently. Lance tilted his head to the side slightly, exposing his neck, and finally Keith couldn’t take it anymore.

With that same inhuman speed from before, he pinned Lance to the door, staring into his eyes and searching his face for _something_ . The Cuban boy’s eyes had widened at the speed before settling again and leveling Keith with a look that said _‘what are you waiting for?’_ The vampire didn’t need anymore reassurance, and he clamped down firmly on his neck, fangs piercing caramel skin. He heard a sharp hiss from above his head, but Lance’s breathing leveled out quickly. His grip on broad shoulders were tight, but it loosened when he felt a warm hand slip into his hair.

After about a couple minutes of drinking, with Lance massaging his head the whole time, Keith retracted his fangs, lifting his head away from his teammate’s neck. Lance looked dazed as he looked down into the soft glow of Keith’s irises.

“Thanks,” Keith said sheepishly, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.

“Anytime…” Lance replied, that same smirk back on his face, although much more tired looking this time. “I’m sleepy…” and he turned to open the door, but he stumbled a bit. Strong arms caught him, and he turned his head up to offer a shaky smile. “Thanks man.”

Keith looked a bit worried, realizing he had taken a bit too much blood. He never usually went this long without it, and he had had a hard time stopping. But he did, just a bit too late if Lance’s wobbly legs were any indication. With a soft, mumbled ‘sorry’, he lifted his loopy friend’s arm over his shoulder, sliding his hand to his waist to steady him. Slowly, they made their way to Lance’s room, which was definitely a lot harder than it should have been since Lance was basically just dead weight at this point.

They made it though, door sliding open at the same time Lance detangled himself from Keith. Stumbling over to the bed, Lance dropped unceremoniously onto the bed. His vampire teammate was still standing by the door, looking unsure.

“What’re you doing?” He had shrugged off his jacket by then, laying back on the bed.

“I—you...are you gonna be okay?”

“Who, me?” he inquired, snuggling up in his blankets. Two days in, he had raided a couple spare rooms in the castle and stolen some extra blankets. According to him, the only way to sleep was wrapped in a pile of them. He glanced over at Keith through his cocoon, curving his lips into a smirk. “Yeah I’m gonna be fine. You know me.”

Keith looked unimpressed and a bit unsure, but his shoulders relaxed a bit. For as long as he had known him, Lance had been a bit more resilient than most, shrugging off things that had other cadets puking out their guts. But he still had a tendency to downplay his more serious injuries. So Keith wasn’t about to take him at his word.

“Come over here and tell me more about your undead life,” Lance mumbled from his spot, chuckling a bit at the last part.

With a sigh, Keith moved over to the bed, sitting down near the edge. “Why do you want to hear this?”

Lance threw back a few blankets and leveled him with a flat stare. “Dude. You’re a vampire. That’s the coolest thing ever.” A tanned hand pulled back the blankets and settled into them. “Plus, I thought vampires were mythical up until like, fifteen minutes ago, so yeah, I need to hear everything.”

Sighing, Keith pushed his hair back with one hand, all of his vampiric features already receded. “Well my dad was human and my mom was a vampire,” Lance didn’t miss the past tense, but he wasn’t going to comment now. “Uh, you already saw the claws and the ears and the glowing eyes.” He stopped, looking up in thought, trying to think of what else to say. But of course Lance was there to supply a topic.

“Powers?” he mumbled, already on the brink of sleep. The blood loss and the faded adrenaline had really tired him out.

“Mm...well you witnessed the speed already and—” he broke off, looking down at Lance whose eyes were shut peacefully. “You’re drained. Get some sleep,” he said, moving to get up. A large hand snaked out of the blanket burrito and grasped his arm.

“No wait, don’t go, I’m not tired, I promise.” It came out as more of a murmur than the confident statement Keith was sure he meant it to be. With a small smile, he lifted Lance’s hand from his wrist and stood from the bed.

“We’ll talk about it more tomorrow. I promise. So go to sleep.”

“Okay…” Lance obliged, snuggling into the blankets. “Goodnight Keith.”

“Goodnight Lance. Thanks…”

Lance hummed, and just as he was drifting off, he heard three soft words.

 

_“And I’m sorry.”_


	2. Vampiric Twenty Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is freaking out, the team is (still) out of the loop, and Lance gets some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long! I know I said I'd have it out like a month ago (really never listen to anything I say), but I got super busy. I started my sophomore year of college a few weeks back, I have a job now, I'm a senator for the student association, I'm one of the social media coordinators for my club, AND I'm training to be the next treasurer of my choir. So yeah I'm a bit busy lmao. But tigerlily887 messaged me on tumblr about this chapter and I was so happy that they went out of their way to message me that I put a rush on this :3 anyway, here you go guys, Chapter 2. Hope you like it!

Keith couldn't fall asleep.

His brain was swarming as the night’s events finally sunk in. 

Someone knew. 

For the first time in ten years, someone other than himself and other vampires knew. But more importantly...

Someone on the ship knew he was a vampire. Possibilities and fears immediately seized his consciousness.

What if Lance wakes up and decides he's going to tell everyone? Keith didn't even want to think about how awkward and terrible it would be to be stuck in space on a ship with six people who hated/feared him. Or they decide they don't want him on the team anymore and send him back to Earth. Or worse, out the airlock. 

Okay so Keith tended to have an overactive imagination when it came to stuff like this—always thinking about the worst possible outcomes. Shiro had called him a pessimist in the past, to which Keith replied he would have it no other way. Either you're always right about things going horribly or you're pleasantly surprised. Shiro had just sighed and turned back to his book. 

Usually, he always wanted to be right. This time though, Keith really hoped he was wrong.

Even though they had all met a few days ago, Keith had quickly grown quite attached to them. He had always been desperate for companionship, love. Being an orphan and living alone in the desert for a year would do that to a person. That's why Shiro's disappearance had hit him so hard. He was all he had, and then he was just...gone.

But that was in the past now; he had him back. There were more pertinent matters to deal with. Like what to do when the team comes at him with stakes and torches. 

Like I said, overactive imagination. 

  
  


While Keith was pacing in his room, Lance, on the other hand, had fallen fast asleep, his body desperate to regenerate the blood drained from his body. But, of course, it didn't last long. 

Jerking awake, not three hours after falling asleep, his vision blurred, head spinning with the speed at which he sat up. 

"Ow..." he muttered, voice scratchy and strained.

He rubbed his temples, trying to soothe the pain, and opened his eyes. Finally more alert, those three words Keith had said before he drifted to sleep were running through his head. 

Contrary to popular belief, Lance wasn't an idiot. He was very perceptive and could often times read things that others couldn't. He was people-smart, his mom had said to him one day. 

And so he knew why Keith was apologizing. At least he thought he did. 

He had a vague idea, he decided. 

Lance laid back down, trying to fall asleep and promising himself he would talk to Keith about it in the morning. He wasn't sure if vampires slept, but if they did, he didn't want to be the asshole who woke Keith up in the middle of the night. 

  
  


Vampires did in fact sleep, but the vampire in question was still up, pacing and pulling at his hair. 

He couldn’t do this again. The first time was hard enough; he lost a friend, a place to feel safe, and any love he had left for his species. After what they did to Elise...

He had tried a lot of things to calm his fraying nerves. First, he went to the training deck to work off the stress, which usually worked. Not tonight. So, he took a long shower. That didn’t work either. He even tried looking at the star map as he would sometimes catch Lance doing. Nothing worked.

So he was back where he started.

Pacing and worrying in his room.

Hours had passed since he had left Lance in his room, and being a Defender of the Universe, he couldn’t afford to be less than 100 percent. Sure, his vampiric roots made him less susceptible to biological needs. He could handle a couple days without sleep. But it drained extra energy he wasn’t willing to spend being up in space.

With that in mind, he slipped into his bed and willed his mind to calm down enough to sleep. Finally, with one fleeting thought of Lance, he drifted off.

-X-

The red paladin was nowhere to be seen at breakfast. Lance didn’t know what to think about that.

Okay he did. But he told himself he wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions...this time.

He was silently digging into his food goo as the others talked loudly around him. He wasn’t listening. He was more interested in the empty seat to his left and the person who should be filling it. Speaking of…

“Hey where’s Keith? Anyone seen ‘im?” Leave it to Hunk to notice his absence. Pidge was next to comment on their new teammates absenteeism. 

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him since dinner.”

“Neither have I,” Shiro added. He looked at Lance then, who was staring intently at the green mush in front of him. “Lance, you left a bit after him last night.” The paladin in question looked up and tried very hard to maintain eye contact. “Did you see him?”

_ Yes _ , he thought.  _ I saw him and he bit me and I haven’t stopped thinking about the fact that vampires exist and my friend is one of them. _

But of course he couldn’t say any of that out loud. So he thought of something else. Something that sounded plausible, that explained why he wasn’t here, but didn’t worry them enough to warrant them all jumping up from the table to find him.

“Yeah I ran into him on the way back to my room. He said he had a headache and was gonna try to sleep it off.” The team looked like they bought it, but some weren’t completely satisfied. “Uhh, he’s probably still asleep, but I’ll go check on him,” he said, standing from the table. He received looks ranging from raised eyebrows to slight smirks (that last one reserved to Hunk, the only one who knew of his long-held crush on their dark haired teammate).

He ignored all of the looks and walked quickly towards the doors. As soon as he was clear of the team’s eyes, he slowed down, taking his time to Keith’s bedroom.

What was he going to say? They had to talk about last night, obviously, but Lance was still stuck on the hushed words Keith spoke in the darkness of Lance’s room.

What did he have to be sorry about?

He knew he was sorry for taking too much blood, but the way he had said it, voice soft and breaking, Lance was sure it went deeper than that. 

How deep, he wasn't sure. 

That's why he was going to go talk to Keith about it. His mama had told him as a kid never to assume. Assumptions led to misunderstandings, and misunderstandings led to conflicts. And Lance had never liked conflict. 

So instead of assuming and trying to figure this out on his own, he was going to ask the vampire. 

He had been walking languidly, but before he knew it, he was in front of Keith’s door. He sighed and lifted his fist.

_ Knock knock knock _ . He waited for the response. He didn’t have to wait long.

The door swooshed open, revealing a surprised Keith looking a bit worse for wear, slight bags hanging under his eyes, hair disheveled as if he had been pulling at it.

“Jeez Keith, what happened to you?”

He avoided the question. “What’s up Lance?” voice slow, cautious.

“Ah.” His hand came up to scratch at the back of his neck. “Uh, can I come in?” In lieu of a verbal response, Keith stepped aside.

“The team was worried when you didn’t show up to breakfast,” he started.

“Oh…sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lance waved him off. “I told them you had a headache and were sleeping.” A soft thump resounded as he plopped down on the bad.

Keith didn’t respond immediately, so Lance took to examining his room. It wasn’t much different that his own, only the bed placed on a different side. Also, Keith’s jacket hung up by the door. 

“...thanks.” Lance’s head swiveled back to look at Keith, finally speaking after such a long pause. He almost forgot what he had said to be thanked for.

“No problem dude.” He tilted his head, taking in Keith’s body language. He was still standing by the door, unmoved from when Lance had entered. He was hunched in on himself, eyes cast down and arms crossed, not so much to keep Lance out, but to serve as a barrier between them. Lance wasn’t sure why it was necessary.

“So,” he started, to draw Keith’s eyes up to his own, “we should probably talk. About yesterday.” Keith visibly tensed, his gaze wavering slightly. But he didn’t look away.

“Yeah.”

“I obviously have a lot of questions, ya know, ‘cause you even existing has kind of flipped my world upside down, but before that…” He stood slowly and approached the red paladin. He flinched but otherwise didn’t react. His eyes were no longer glowing like yesterday, back to their normal (at least for Keith) purple hue; they were wide, wary.

Thin eyebrows scrunched together. “Are you...why did you say sorry last night?” Wide eyes widened even more before dropping down and returning to their normal size. Keith moved past Lance, towards the bed.

“I didn’t know you heard that,” he whispered, turning now to face Lance again. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I almost was,” Lance granted. “But I caught it.”

Keith hummed in acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything.

“If it’s about taking too much blood, it’s fine.” Keith looked up at that, mouth opening to respond. Lance cut him off before he could. “No seriously it’s fine. It’d probably been awhile since you...ate. I get it. Plus I’m fine, see?” He raised his hands above his head, wiggling them. “Good as new.”

“That’s not...I mean, I am sorry about that—”

“And I already said it’s fine.”

Keith nodded. “But that’s not really why I said it. At least not the whole reason.”

Lance hummed. “Yeah I figured as much.” He moved closer, until he was close enough to lay a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Seriously, what’s up?”

“I...it’s…” He sighed before sitting heavily on the bed. “It’s hard to explain.”

Lance sat next to him, but at a respectful distance. “Well try and I’ll let you know if you’re not making any sense.”

Tired eyes glanced up at him before closing. Keith let out one more sigh before attempting to put his feelings into words. Which he was never very good at. Still he tried.

“Elise,” he huffed, letting all the breath leave his body. “She was my best friend and...well long story short I told her about me and things went to shit.” And by that, he meant she and her family ended up dead, but this wasn’t the time to dump this on Lance. “Anyway, I just, I don’t want what happened to her to happen to you, especially because this isn’t your problem. It’s mine and I shouldn’t have dragged you into it. So...sorry.”

That was the most Lance had ever heard Keith speak, and he could still tell he was leaving a lot of stuff out.But he wasn’t going to push it. 

“What do you mean it isn’t my problem?” Keith turned to look at Lance, shock clear in his eyes. Lance just smiled. “We’re friends dude, so if you’re in pain and there’s something I can do to help, I’m going to do it.” 

“Lance I...thanks.”

“Of course,” he said with a wink, leaning over to bump Keith’s shoulder. “Besides, if I don’t, we’ll both worry and get wrinkles and that’s not good for anyone.”

He was grinning, and Keith couldn’t help but smile with him. 

“Alright,” Lance exclaimed, “bring it in,” he announced, standing up with arms open wide.

Keith just kind of gaped at him. Lance refused to give in, staring down at him with a smile, wiggling his arms a bit. Sighing, the vampire stood and entered the hug. He could feel the way Lance’s body heat seeped into him slowly, and if the hug lasted a bit long, well, no one said anything.

-X-

Ever since finding out Keith’s secret, Lance had stopped fighting with him as much. For two reasons. 1) Lance only started their “rivalry” because he was jealous that everything at the Garrison seemed to come so easy for Keith. But now he knows it’s because he literally has many biological advantages that Lance does not have. 2) Him being a vampire is the coolest thing ever, and Lance can’t afford to be picking fights because he needs to know everything about vampires.

Which is where they were now.

“So the sun doesn’t burn you alive?”

“No,” Keith sighed. “The Garrison is in Arizona and I lived in the desert for a year. Do you really think I’d be there if the sun would kill me?”

“Yeah ok, fair enough. What does it do then?”

“How do I explain it?” Keith hummed, thinking. “It’s like...a really bad sunburn. Super uncomfortable, but tolerable.”   
“Hmm…Well what about silver?”

“Burns the skin and hurts like a bitch, but I won’t die.”

“Damn so you can go out in the sun, silver doesn’t kill you, what  _ is _ true about vampires? Can you—oh my god, please tell me you can eat garlic.”

“Actually…” Keith said, stretching out the syllables. “That one’s true. Can’t eat garlic.”

“Noooooooo!” Mauve eyes widened at the sudden outburst. “Oh my god so you’ve never had garlic knots?”

“Uhhhh, no.”

“This is much worse than I ever could’ve imagined.” He clamped his hands down on Keith’s shoulders, looking him squarely in the eyes. “I’m so sorry your vampire DNA has deprived you of the most delicious thing humans have ever created.”

“I—thanks? I’m not that mad about it honestly.”

“But!”

“Think of it this way: I traded in garlic knots for super speed and super strength.”

Lance seemed to think for a moment before dropping his hands from Keith’s shoulders. “Alright you make a good point.”

“Any more questions?” The vampire was smirking now, almost chuckling at Lance’s reactions.

The blue paladin sat up straighter from his spot. “Yeah so if the sun and silver doesn’t kill you, what does?”

“Uh,” Keith started, lifting his fingers to count them off. “Holy water will if I’m like, dunked in it. Stake to the heart obviously. Really anything that pierces my heart would kill me. Beheading. Luckily not fire, cause as the guardian spirit of fire, that would be really awkward.” He let out a small chuckle, but Lance was outright cackling.

“Oh my god haha ha that would be soooo awkward!”

“Heh yeah it would.”

“Okay okay,” Lance began when he finally got his laughter under control. “One last question: you’re half vampire half human right?” Keith nodded. “Okay so like, how does that work? Like are there certain things full vampires can do that you can’t or is it like, you do everything at 50% power?”

“Both? Kinda? Well so there are some things that full vampires can do that I can’t. Like full vamps can turn into a bat and I can’t. But yeah some things are only half as effective for me.”

“Like what?”

“Well the reason the sun doesn’t kill me is because I’m half human. It would kill a full vampire. And I don’t run as fast as other vampires. And I can go much longer without blood than full vamps.”

“Well that’s lucky.” Then something occurred to him. “Tell me, what were you planning on doing about the whole blood thing if I had’nt’ve found you last night?”

“Uhhhhhhh.”

To be honest, Keith didn’t have a plan. He wasn’t going to attack any of his friends. Maybe he’d find an alien on a random planet, but he hadn't thought it all the way through.

“Dude,” Lance deadpanned. “Were you just going to suffer until you couldn’t hold out any longer? What happens if you go too long without drinking blood anyway?”

“Ultimately, I’d die.”

“Dude! And you weren’t going to tell anyone?”

“This is my problem, plus that’s a really random thing to spring on everyone.”

“True, but still, you dying is way worse than surprising the team with this.”

“I guess,” Keith muttered.

“Oh Keith,” the blue paladin sighed. “What am I gonna do with you?”

The vampire opened his mouth to say...something, he didn’t know what but something. Before he could though…

“Well no matter,” he said, voice fictitiously lofty. “You have me, so you won’t be starving on my watch.” He stood and stretched his hand out for Keith to take. Hesitantly, a leather glove clad hand slid over caramel skin, and the vampire was pulled up from the floor. 

Lance smirked. “Now let’s go feed that human half of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to make any promises about the time of the next update because I probably won't stay true to it, but I'll try to write whenever I have time.
> 
> OH and I did a little art piece of vampire!keith a while ago. You can find it on my art instagram and tumblr (links below)
> 
> Oh yeah and probably no one will, but if you post or say something about this fic on tumblr, tag it with "fic: dehydration" cuz I wanna see it!


	3. Personal Blood Bank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's confused, the Alteans are cheaters, and Keith and Lance should learn how to lock a door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys so sorry for the long wait! I really needed time to figure out where I wanted this fic to go. I had, and I have, no intention of leaving this unfinished.  
> Anyway I finally sat down and figured out what I wanted to do. So without further ado, here's chapter 3!

The mission had gone smoothly. Or at least as smoothly as it could go when you throw a bunch of teenagers on a team and ask them to save the universe. Relatively smooth.

They had just sent the last group of alien refugees off in a pod, and now they were gathered in the control room for the usual post-mission affirmation/lecture. Depended on how the mission went. This time, it was a little bit of both.

“Great job, team,” Shiro remarked, pulling his head free of his helmet. He ran his bio-arm through the tuft of white, trying to tame it after being stuck in a helmet for hours. “All of the villagers got out safe and we didn’t have a single casualty.”

The team nodded with small smiles on their faces. A job well done was always something to feel good about.

“Next time though…”

Every smile quickly dissolved into sighs. They should’ve known, it was never that simple.

Shiro turned to face the pilot of the blue lion. “Lance, make sure to pay attention when we go over formations. You completely missed your cue.”

“Sorry, Shiro,” the Cuban responded. “I’ll do better next time,” he said, determination just barely visible in his eyes. The entire team stared at him with minor shock. Lance had never once admitted his mistakes on their missions, at least not verbally. And he _definitely_ never took responsibility. He would usually just blame it on Keith, who, at that moment, decided to speak up...

“That was my fault, Shiro. I was in his way and blocked him. My bad.” Mild shock turned to complete disbelief; Keith had never stood up for Lance, much less put the blame on himself.

The room was quiet as the whole team looked between the right side of Voltron, who were currently giving each other reassuring smiles.

“Uhhhhh…” Shiro so eloquently started, “thank you...Keith. Work on that then…Allura, anything to add?”

Allura’s eyes jumped to the black paladin from where they were studying the pair. “No, nothing. Everyone performed valiantly today. Good work everyone.”

The team grunted in agreement as the meeting came to a natural end. Five pairs of eyes followed Keith and Lance as they wandered out of the room together, joking and smiling as they went. Pidge spoke up first.

“Okay, anyone else notice how weird they’ve been acting?” Four voices hummed their affirmation.

“Yeah, they’re like, friends now…” Hunk stated with uncertainty, still looking off in the direction the pair had walked off.

“I’d even go so far as to say they’re dating,” Pidge mused.

“What!” Hunk sputtered. “No way! First of all, I don’t agree. Second of all, if they were, Lance would’ve told me.”

“Hm, fair. Still something’s going on.”

“Whatever’s going on,” Shiro interjected, “their teamwork is improving and that helps us all.”

“Don’t forget the rest of the universe,” Hunk noted.

“Right. Them too.”

-X-

They’d been working pretty over the past couple weeks they’ve been in space, so the Alteans and Shiro thought it might be nice to do something to ease the ongoing tension that comes with fighting an intergalactic space war in a giant, sentient robot. They’d mulled over a couple ideas, but ultimately, they had decided on…

“Game night!”

The four paladins all sat in the lounge staring back at who they had dubbed ‘The Executive Team’ with looks ranging from unimpressed to confused.

“...Game night,” Pidge repeated.

“Yes!” Allura exclaimed, excited about the prospect of having some fun. “These games have been sitting in the storage bay for who knows how long, I had almost forgotten they were here!”

The team scanned the games Coran had pushed in on a hovercart. Most of the games, disregarding the Altean writing, were still unrecognizable. Still, they noticed some games they might know how to play: what looked like a weird version of Twister, some weirdly shaped objects that could be used to play jacks, an Altean version of Operation that probably resulted in stronger shocks than they could withstand.

“Let’s do it guys!” Hunk said, standing up to face the group. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could definitely use a break from fighting evil, purple aliens.”

 

“Ha! You’ve landed in the Naxzela Asteroid Belt. Your ship is destroyed and you pay each player fifty groggeries,” Coran explained happily.

“Why do I have to pay you guys if my ship is broken,” Keith asked indignantly as he counted out the money.

“We don’t make the rules,” Allura stated, smiling as she took her share. Something told Keith they were making up these rules.

“Alright my turn,” Lance said, reaching for the small device that functioned like a pair of dice. An Altean symbol soon appeared on the screen that Coran translated to be ‘six’. The blue paladin moved his piece, a juniberry flower, six paces forward. He picked up the card indicated by the space, stared at it for a bit, before saying, “I don’t even know why I picked this up,” and then handed it to Allura to read.

“I’m quite sorry, Lance,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. “You get lost in the caves of the Balmera. Skip next turn.”

“Welp,” he responded, standing to his feet. “Guess I’ll go refill the food. Anyone want anything to drink?” Taking the orders, he walked out of the room, empty bowl in one hand.

He had just gotten to the kitchen when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning, he saw Hunk looking slightly out of breath, as if he ran to catch up.

“Lance— _huff_ —wait— _huff_ —up.”

“Yeah buddy, sure,” he said, turning to face the yellow paladin fully. “What’s up?” He waited patiently as his friend caught his breath, placing the large bowl on the counter near him.

Hunk finally regained his breath and walked further in the kitchen, following Lance as he moved to refill their snacks.

“Dude, what’s up with you and Keith?” The blue paladin stuttered slightly, before continuing to pull the bag from the cupboard. “I mean, you guys have been all buddy-buddy for the past two weeks, and you, like, hated him before.” Blue eyes glanced at him sideways before filling the bowl with the contents of the bag. “Well, I mean, fake hated him. You and I both know how you really felt.

Tan skin bloomed pink as Lance turned to face his friend. Yes, he did indeed know what Hunk was talking about. He’d had a crush on Keith for years, ever since the black-haired man had beat him on the simulator their first week at the Garrison. He had acted miffed, but honestly, he was more focused on how hot the pilot looked as he stepped out of the simulator, smug smile curling his lips. All he’d wanted to do was kiss that smile off his face and run his fingers through his hair, but no way in hell that was going to happen. He didn’t even know if Keith was into guys. So of course, instead of risking getting shot down and embarrassed, his defense mechanism kicked in, and he funneled all his energy into a rivalry with the other pilot. It had really helped him in the program. He improved in the program, spending countless hours in the skills lab.

Didn’t do anything to quell his ever-growing crush though.

“Yeah, I know, Hunk,” he sighed. “We just, I don’t know, we talked. I don’t fake-hate him anymore. We’re kind of friends now.”

Hunk’s eyebrows inched up towards his headband, looking at his best friend a little incredulously. “Are sure nothing else is going on?” Lance tilted his head in confusion. “Something…” Hunk was smirking now, “romantic?”

The Cuban sputtered and almost dropped the bowl and all the weirdly shaped chips inside it. He placed it on the counter before heading to grab some water pouches. “What, no! No, no, no, no, nothing like that,” he promised, back facing Hunk. “We’re friends,” he said, turning back to see Hunk’s disbelieving expression. “ _Just_ friends.”

The yellow paladin stared back at him, studying the way Lance played with his ear, the way he always did when he was hiding something. He squinted at him, before relaxing with a sigh.

“Alright fine. Need some help with those?” he asked, gesturing to the water pouches slowly slipping from Lance’s arms.

“Huh? Oh yeah thanks,” Lance replied, letting Hunk grab them from his arms as he reached for the snack bowl.

“Alright let’s get back to the others.” Hunk didn’t know exactly what Lance was hiding, but he was sure he’d tell him when he was ready. He always did.

“Yup. Do you know how this game works?”

“Not a clue.”

 

Allura ended up winning the game, and the team was 100% sure she cheated.

-X-

It had been roughly a month since Lance stumbled upon Keith in all his glowing-eyed glory, and the two had fallen into a good system. They’d meet on the training deck at night, spar for about an hour or two, and after, Lance would get a water pouch and Keith would get to feed. As a result, Lance’s combat skills and their teamwork was improving, which was great for Voltron.

So the system was good. Great even.

They didn’t account for Pidge’s tendency to pull all-nighters working on random projects.

Usually, she would spend all night in the control room or her lion’s bay, but that night, she wanted to analyze the holodeck technology. As a result, she had to walk past the training deck. She was on her way to the holodeck, and she would’ve walked right past the door, if she hadn’t noticed the light on the door, the indicator that the room was being used. She stepped up to the door, curiosity taking over, and as the doors slid open, she quirked an eyebrow at a sight she wasn’t expecting.

Lance froze and Keith’s eyes were blown wide, fangs still sunken into tanned skin and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. The room was completely silent. For about ten seconds.

“Kinky.”

The blue paladin moved so fast, Keith’s fangs were ripped from his neck before he could swallow the blood.

“What the hell, Pidge?” Lance yelled. The green paladin’s chuckles turned to rambunctious laughter, as crimson blood dripped from the vampire’s still-open mouth.

“Oh my god,” she gasped between laughs. “I’m sorry I had to. Keith, close your mouth, you’re losing your meal.” He shut his mouth quickly, pausing only to retract his fangs, and gulped.

“You’re a vampire. This answers _sooooo_ many questions,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Wait, so you’re not surprised?”

“Dude, you barely eat, you’re like hella pale, and once I saw you literally crush one of the gladiators. With your bare hands. I was pretty sure something was up.”

Keith glanced at Lance, still unsure, and Lance just shrugged.

“It was about time someone other than me knew,” he said, matter-of-factly. “And it’s Pidge. She’s probably just gonna want to ask you a bunch of questions and analyze your DNA makeup or something.”

“Oh hell yeah.”

Keith sighed and dropped on the ground. “I guess.”

“Yeah we’re definitely going to do all that, but first,” she said, turning to point at Lance. “How long have _you_ known?”

“Like a month.”

“ _Damn_. I didn’t know you were capable of keeping a secret so long.”

“First of all, language.” Pidge flipped him off. “And second, I am _excellent_ at keeping secrets.” She just raised an eyebrow. “Okay fine, important secrets.”

She considered him for a moment before conceding. “Alright, well as hilarious as this has been, I have work to do,” she announced, turning and heading for the door. She looked over her shoulder at the pouting vampire. “Oh and Keith? I’ll be coming to find you for that DNA analysis later.” Her mouth was curved in a smirk as she waved and exited the room.

“Well,” Lance breathed after a few moments. “That was…something.”

“Oh my god,” Keith groaned into his hands.

“Hey, that could’ve been much worse.” Keith didn’t respond. “Allura could’ve walked in. Or Hunk.”

“Good point.”

Lance chuckled and stretched a hand out for Keith to grab. “Alright, now let’s clean this up,” he said, gesturing the the small puddle of blood slowly drying on the training deck floor, “go take showers, and then go to sleep, ‘cause I’m exhausted.”

“Deal.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you guys noticed, but there'll be minor time skips periodically between chapters. I'll always say how much time has passed if there is, so just look out for that.
> 
> I've been feeling very creative this past week so it was a perfect time to sit down and write. I also finally drew some things that you can check out at my instagram or tumblr (linked below).
> 
> Hopefully, there won't be that long of a wait before the next chapter. I'm a little busy with classes and stuff, but I'll make time for this. Thanks guys! 
> 
> Oh and Happy Pride Month!!


	4. Midnight Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have a late night chat, Pidge finally gets that DNA sample, and Keith has a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooooooo...been a while huh?
> 
> Yeah I definitely said this would be out in the summer, and I intended for it to, but...life.  
> Anyway here it is!

Lance rubbed over his neck, the skin still tender from Keith’s latest feeding. It had only been a month and a half since this all started, but Lance’s resolve was slowly crumbling. Turns out, having your crush consistently close to you, and even more, with his mouth on your neck, can have amplificatory effects on the already existing feelings! Who would’ve guessed!

Plus, it put them in an extremely intimate and suggestive position at least once a week. Not to mention the multitude of times Keith had pinned Lance during training. He would always get the breath knocked out of him, and it wasn’t from hitting the floor. The blue paladin blushed as he remembered that time Keith sucked a little harder than usual during feeding, and he was forced to hold in a moan. He had left in a hurry, the vampire’s confused questioning fading out as he ran to deal with the embarrassing situation in his pants.

Lance sat up, groaning at the memory. He’d have to get a lot better at hiding his emotions if this was going to continue. There was no telling when they’d get back to Earth.

Which, with the way the war was going, probably wasn’t going to be anytime soon.

But Lance didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to think about Earth and everything he left behind. Didn’t want to think about how someone had probably beaten his high scores at the arcade down the street since he wasn’t there to defend them. Didn’t want to think about his parents, or his siblings, or his nieces and nephews, and how they all probably thought he was dead—aaand he was thinking about it.

_ Fuck _ , he thought with a groan, jumping out of bed to leave the room. He reached for his jacket and slipped his arms through, ready to go find a distraction from his intrusive thoughts. It was late, but maybe Keith was up. Actually, scratch that; Keith was definitely up. He always was, training in the middle of the night or just wandering the halls of the castle. With that thought, he stepped up to the automatic doors, moved forward as they slid open, and almost ran into the very person he was about to go find.

Keith was standing on the other side of the door, arm half raised about to knock, and a surprised look on his face. “Oh, uh, you’re up.”

“Hey I was actually about to go looking for you,” Lance remarked, before he added, “wait, why are you here? You never visit me.”

It was true. Even though they spent a lot more time together now, it was always on the training deck or the lounge. On maybe three occasions, Lance had gone to find the vampire in his room. But Keith had never come to his.

The red paladin shrugged. “Just thought we’d hang out.”

“Hang out,” Lance deadpanned. “At,” he glanced at the clock Pidge had set up to give them a semblance of normalcy, “three in the morning.”

“Ugh, if you don’t want to it’s fine,” Keith huffed, turning to head back the way he’d come.

“Stop,” Lance laughed, grabbing his jacket and pulling him back. Keith rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn’t move. “I’m just messing with you, it’s cool. I’d love to hang out. Come on in.”

Keith walked in, taking in the surroundings as he did. Their rooms were almost identical. They were reversed, with Lance’s bed being on the right, but other than that, the basic layout of the room was the same. The big differences came from the decor.

They had only been in space for a month or so, but in that time, Lance had collected a smorgasbord of souvenirs from different planets. Some Balmeran crystals glowed in little glass bottles on the shelves, lighting up the books in languages none of them could read. A large crystal bowl was filled with what looked like rocks from all the planets they’d visited. Keith walked over, picking up one of the oddly shaped hunks of quartz.

“When did you start collecting these?”

The man in question walked over to join Keith. He picked up one of the other rocks, rotating it in his hands. “I had a rock collection when I was a kid. I stopped it when I was like eleven, but when we came up here…” he paused, glancing over at Keith who was listening intently. It was dark in the room, but the light from the crystals was enough to illuminate the sharp planes of his face. Lance sighed, placing the rock back in the bowl, and wandering over to the bed. “I don’t know, I just felt like starting it up again. Been doing it ever since we left Earth.”

The quartz clinked gently against the bowl as Keith placed it back with its collection. The bed sunk a little, adjusting to the weight as he sat down next to Lance.  “What do you plan to do with them?”

“I’ll probably show them off to my nieces and nephews. They’d love them.” Keith noticed the small, sad smile on his face, the ‘if we ever get back to Earth’ going unsaid. Keith wasn’t the most observant person, but he wasn’t blind. He could tell how homesick Lance was; everyone could. Even though he didn’t really talk about it, they could see it in the small moments, like when they’d reunite refugees with their families, and his smile wouldn’t quite reach his eyes.

Looking at him now, with that same sad smile, Keith decided that he would do his best to help Lance feel less lonely.

 

They talked for hours, Lance leaning up against the headboard and Keith on the opposite end. They compared favorite foods and weirdest aliens they’ve encountered, placed bets on how long it would take before Pidge and Hunk blew something up with their experiments (Keith bet one month, but Lance was sure it would happen within the week). They would’ve continued, would’ve talked til the sun came up (or at least until the castle lights came on), but they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Lance stopped mid-sentence, hands still frozen in the air, and looked at Keith with a look of confusion. All Keith did was return the look.

“Who is visiting this late?”

Lance shrugged and got up to open the door. As the doors slid open, the confusion dropped from his face and he just thought to himself  _ I should’ve known _ . Because who else would be awake at this hour?

“Sup bitches?”

“Pidge?” Keith asked, sitting up from his slumped position at the end of the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to get you,” she said easily, moving past Lance to walk further into the room.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I checked your room and the training deck first, and you obviously weren’t in either of those places, the I realized the only other place you’d be is here,” she finished, picking up one of the Balmeran crystals.

Keith glanced at Lance, wondering if he was just as confused.

He was.

“Ummm,” Keith started, finally standing, “get me for what?”

The green paladin turned quickly with an almost evil grin on her face, the light from the crystal causing her glasses to glint. 

“Time to get that DNA sample.”

-X-

Truth be told, Keith had never been inside Pidge’s lab. He never really had a reason too. And it wasn’t near anywhere he normally was, so he never stopped by, but walking in now, he was regretting that he hadn’t sooner.

Pidge’s lab was incredible. He knew she was smart, a genius really, but this was…

Several tables were scattered around the room, and every inch was covered in some kind of equipment. The vampire walked by one table with multiple computers, each beeping every couple seconds, seemingly running simultaneous programs. He couldn’t understand a single thing on the screens, but Pidge walked over, typed a few lines of code, and walked away.

He had to say, he was impressed. And a little proud. Keith felt honored to be friends with someone so intelligent.

“Get your cryptid ass over here.”

Alright he was even happier to be friends with Pidge now.

“You were into cryptids too?” he asked with a smile, moving over to a table near the far end of the room.

The green paladin returned the grin. “My fascination never ends. And now finding out that vampires are real, it’s even stronger.”

“Happy to help, I guess,” he remarked, bumping her with his hip. “So what exactly are we doing?”

The young scientist whipped around with a stretchy band and some needle-vial looking things. “Blood sample. Kind of ironic since usually you’re the one sucking blood out of people,” she quipped, laughing at her own joke.

“Ha yeah.” The vampire in question chuckled, while Pidge moved to secure the band around his bicep. He watched as the veins bulged and the green paladin sunk one of the needles in.

“So how come you told Lance of all people?”

Keith laughed, thinking about it. Looking back now, it’s really funny, but it definitely wasn’t at the time. “I didn’t really choose to. He just found me as I was transforming.”

Pidge’s hands stalled where they had replaced the vial with another. Bright amber eyes snapped up to meet confused purple ones. “You transform?”

“Yeahhhhh,” Keith drawled, apprehension evident. “Not anything crazy though. Just fangs, my ears get pointy, and I get claws. Oh and my eyes glow.”

“Your eyes glow?!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Mhm…” the vampire hummed slowly. Meanwhile, the green paladin removed the final vial and put them aside. Keith rubbed at the spot, which was already mostly healed. “Wanna see?”

Pidge sputtered, sitting back in a chair by the table. “You have to ask?”

“You right,” he smirked. He took a deep breath, reaching deep into that place he’s known about since he was four. It was rare that he ever had to do this on demand. Most times, it was a necessity, for survival or eating, but it wasn’t impossible.

The claws were first, fingernails lengthening to two inches of sharpened keratin. Cartilage stretched to form elf-like ears, while his fangs pushed through his gums. He was used to the sting of his gums being pushed aside, used to the feeling of his teeth taking up more space in his mouth. It took awhile to get the hang of closing his mouth without stabbing himself, and h had the scars to prove it. 

But the  pièce de résistance were the eyes.

They were closed at the moment, but even through his eyelids, you could see the telltale glow. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and his ears quirked at the sound of Pidge’s heart rate picking up. It was a standard, biological reaction to his vampire form, the feeling that you were prey and he was a predator. It was true, in a sense, but he knew what his teammate was feeling wasn’t as strong as it could be. As a vampire, he had the ability to activate people’s fear centers to make them easier prey, but the moral implications of taking away someone’s will, even if only partially, was something Keith always avoided.

“Wow,” Pidge breathed, almost too soft to hear, but of course, his vampiric ears picked it up. She seemed to snap out of it moments later, moving from her seat to examine his claws. “This is amazing. Is it hard to keep in?” she asked, gesturing to all of the new editions to his body.

Keith shrugged, tugging at one of his ears. “Nah not really. Unless I haven’t eaten in a while. Then I start to lose control of it.”

“Is that what happened with Lance?”

“Yeah,” he remarked, now leaning against the table. “I didn’t really have a choice in whether or not he knew. He just kind of stumbled upon me.”

“Ha, he probably freaked out so hard,” she snorted, sitting back down in the chair.

“No, he was actually…” he trailed off, thinking back on it, “pretty cool. More fascinated than anything. I’m still surprised about how chill he was about it. I expected screaming and running, but he didn’t. I always thought he was loud and obnoxious, but he’s not like that all the time, once you get to know him. He’s kind and supportive, and I’m actually really glad he was there for me. I didn’t really have a plan, and I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done if he wasn’t there.”

Keith stopped and looked at Pidge, whose lips were curved in a knowing smile.

He didn’t like that smile.

“What?” he asked, apprehensively.

“Nothing,” she shrugged. “Just never heard you speak this much unless you were talking to or about Shiro.”

“Wha —t hat’s not true!”

The green paladin rolled her eyes, looking pointedly unimpressed.

Keith’s shoulders slumped, his head drooping. He looked up at her through his bangs. “Is it really?” he asked, sheepishly. 

“Yeah dude.”

“I just —”

He wasn’t sure what he was about to say, but at that moment, the doors slid open.

“Sup guys. How’s the science and shit going?”

The vampire jumped, his ears flicking slightly as his face reddened. Pidge, on the other hand, looked unbothered. Lance raises an eyebrow, looking between the two.

“Everything good here?”

“Yeah we’re all good,” Pidge chirped, patting Keith on the back unnecessarily hard, in his opinion. He quickly transformed back into his human form, there being no more reason for him to be in vampire form.

Lance and Pidge began to talk about the tests she was going to run, but Keith was no longer listening. Even though his words had been cut off, his brain was still running wild. He glanced over at the blue paladin, and his caramel skin, and his soft curls, and his expressive eyes, and his pink lips and—

_ Fuck. _  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna make any promises on when the next chapter will come out cuz I know better.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback really motivates me to write, so leave me a comment telling me what you think!
> 
> Also come talk to me or yell at me or whatever lol.
> 
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